


Knight in Shining Armor

by caffeinehoe



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: M/M, joe gets stood up & luz saves the day, so silly & so fluffy, this is so self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 12:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7714369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caffeinehoe/pseuds/caffeinehoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe Toye gets stood up on Valentine’s. George Luz gets lucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knight in Shining Armor

**Author's Note:**

> A plot used a million times. A rare pairing with two pages on AO3. Will I write it? You betcha.  
> LuzToye for the 0.0001% out there. 
> 
> Would be absolute trash if not for the brilliant r-catsby (@ tumblr) bruce_the_shark (@ ao3) !! She's the best, check out her blog if you want your life to improve. The real MVP, to be honest.

Joe Toye liked to think himself a person unaffected by people’s opinions of him, right or wrong, good or bad. But, as he sat in the crowded restaurant, obviously the only lonesome figure amongst dozens of pairs, he thought he might have to reconsider. 

Surrounding him were married couples and long time partners, their desperate actions to appear civil honed to perfection from years of practice. Groups of friends chatting and laughing, attempting futile celebration to keep the mood up, bragging about how they didn’t need relationships even though their hidden frowns said otherwise. There were lovers, starry eyed with adoration and still in their honeymoon phase, giggling, blushing, and touching. 

Then there was Joe Toye, grumpy faced and painstakingly, obviously, single. 

This was not the plan. He was supposed to fit into the first group of well oiled relationships with aims for the third and the love still growing there. He sighed angrily, quietly, once again chancing a glance at the door. He was very aware of the pathetic picture he made, of the pitying looks he got from neighboring tables, of the waiter whispering to his boss while attempting - and failing - to inconspicuously point him out. 

Joe Toye liked to consider himself a person unaffected by people’s opinions of him - “He should wear colors other than black, honestly!” or “He’s always scowling, it’s unsettling!” - but to suddenly be on the receiving end of pity? Of snickered comments and sympathetic looks as though he was an abandoned animal found in some gutter? He found himself not as unaffected he would have liked. 

Helplessness was not a look Joe Toye wore well.

Looking down at his cell phone with furrowed brows, he texted James for what seemed like the thousandth time, their conversation chain steadily growing bubble by bubble, oddly one sided.

“Where are you??? Its fuckin half past and Im gettin pissed. Get. Here. Now.”

Letting out a frustrated huff, Joe felt the familiar bubbling of anger low in his stomach when he once again saw the little words at the bottom of his text notifying him that the message had been read, but clearly not answered. He sighed, gave one more glance at milling crowd of couples waiting by the door to get in, and made his decision. With oddly calm fingers he tapped out a new message, wondered what it meant that he wasn’t as angry as he felt he should be.

“Youre not here, relationships not here. Congrats! its over asshole.”

Letting out a dark chuckle he looked down at the white of the table cloth, felt an uncanny urge to scribble all over its pristine surface. He wasn’t particularly upset about the end of his relationship, would even admit it was doomed from day one with the right amount of alcohol. No, he was more upset over the fact that was stuck, alone, in the middle of a romantic restaurant surrounded by couples on Valentine’s Day, of all given days. 

It was clear to everyone that the last thirty minutes had been uncomfortable, but Joe knew for a fact that nothing would truly compare to his awkward walk of solitude out the door. Just the thought of informing the waiter that no, his date would not be making it, had him grinding his teeth together. Joe wasn’t sure if he could handle seeing the look of silent judgement in the waiter’s eyes, that he wouldn’t just stab him with the closest utensil to round out his evening for shits and giggles. It was with great effort that he settled his nerves, steeled his spine, and mentally braced for impact as he looked up to find his waiter already looming behind the empty chair across from him. 

Apparently, Joe had been preoccupied with his own thoughts long enough for the gangly be-aproned teen to have moved on from the couple next to him to stand there and watch him in awkward silence. Joe eyed him warily, mouth open to ask for the check only to be stopped with a sympathetic wince and frantic words.

“I’m very sorry, sir, but you did ask a table for two and I can’t help but notice that the rest of your party still isn’t here and I’m afraid we can’t wait too much longer, I’m sure you understand, we just have a lot of people waiting and if your date isn’t stuck outside then we have to ask that--“

“I am so sorry, babe, I could literally not get outta work, you know Muck, always a talker, then the subway was just packed, there was something going on, a proposal on the platform I think, but shit, that’s not the point, I’m here! Late, but here!”

Both Joe and the waiter stared at the brown haired man who plopped himself down in the empty chair across from Joe. The waiter stared at the newcomer in simultaneous relief and annoyance, Joe in wide eyed confusion and disbelief. He had seen the other man scrambling between tables from the other end of the dining room, had seen him bump into the waiter before his tidal wave of words, had expected him to apologize and be on his way, but to suddenly have him interrupting and sliding into the empty space across from him, smiling sweetly despite the mischievous glint in his eye? 

Well...Joe didn’t know what to think.

The waiter fish mouthed for a few seconds, wide eyed and staring from where he had been shoved to the side and Joe couldn’t help but smirk a bit. 

“Was startin’ to get worried.” Joe quirked a brow at the stranger only to get a lewd wink in return.

“Stand you up? Never.” The other man scoffed, leaned across the table to give Joe a quick peck on the cheek with a grin. “You look great, too, by the way.”

Joe grinned, picked up his menu as the other man did the same, pursing his lips as he flipped it open, glancing up at the still shell shocked waiter with wide, imploring eyes. “I am so sorry about being late, again, truly I am. We may need a few more minutes if that isn’t a problem?”

“Yes, yes, of course, sir! Sorry, sirs!” The waiter stuttered, face frantic as he turned to Joe. “I’m so sorry for the confusion!”

Joe just waved him off, watching him go and shaking his head before turning back to the stranger sitting across from him. He was already looking back, a smirk of his own on his lips, menu held up with one hand and fingers of the other tapping against the table as he glanced back down at the plastic page in front of him.

“What looks good, what looks good...” He sang idly, throwing Joe a look over the top of the menu before returning his attention to the options before him. “The Carpaccio sounds good, but I doubt it’ll be enough, what d'ya think?” He asked, stared expectantly at Joe.

Joe stared back blankly. “Who the hell are you? Did Bill put ya up to this, because if he did, you tell that dick that--”

“Fuck, I didn’t even realize! My mother would have slapped me ‘round the head, she taught me better than this, I swear! George Luz, nice to meet ya!” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “And I don’t think I know this Bill fella, sounds like fun though if you thought he’d do something like this.” He grinned, rolled his eyes at Joe’s unimpressed look. “I just thought I’d give the ‘Knight in Shining Armor’ act a shot, ya know, save the pretty dude in distress from an evening gone wrong.” Another lewd wink, a shrug. “Speaking of, that’s what I’ve been callin’ you in my head, and it’s kind of long, so maybe I could have your name?” 

The stranger - Luz, Joe corrected himself - ended his rambling with a brilliant smile, sparkling eyes concentrated on Joe.

“Toye, Joe Toye.” Joe grumbled, internally warring over whether to be overwhelmed or amused. 

“Well, Joey Toye, obviously I’m not who you were supposed to meet here judgin’ by the puppy eyes you been shootin’ the door for the past hour.” Luz flopped down his menu. “What I wanna know, first of all, is who the hell is crazy enough to stand up someone like you, huh?” He quirked a brow, didn’t give Joe a chance to even open his mouth. “Second of all, wanna hear something hilarious?” Luz grinned, his happy disposition never once faltering even when faced with what Joe knew was a terrifying scowl. He knew because he had spent years perfecting it, but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever on his new table mate...his rather attractive new table mate, Joe now realized.

Amidst the chaos and confusion he hadn’t really spared a moment to take in Luz as a whole, his thick, dark hair, perfectly ruffled as if he had just rolled out of bed, full lips stretched into a shit eating grin beneath high cheekbones, sun kissed skin and bright, brown eyes that observed Joe with interest. Put together with his small frame and black tee that dipped low to expose sharp collarbones and a lithe chest, Joe found he had to take an extra moment to process the question.

“I’ll be the judge of it being hilarious or not.” Joe shook his head to snap out of it, shifted in his seat.

Both of Luz’s eyebrows shot up and he let out a burst of short, honest laughter. Joe found he begrudgingly liked it, how free and easy the other man was with his emotions, how he appeared to be so honest in both words and actions.

“It is, I swear, trust me!” Luz looked at him wide eyed. “So my pal Liebgott, a real firecracker by the way, got me an’ some other guys banned from this place a couple of weeks back, it got real messy.” He made a face. “Today, though, we were just hangin’ at Webster’s - that’s Lieb’s boy - and they were fightin’ or somethin’ bout Web wantin’ to celebrate Valentine's Day, right?” Luz rolled his eyes. “Lieb, of course, thinks it’s all commercial bullshit or somethin’ but Web’s gettin’ real mad and then he brings up this place an’ what happened here and that’s a different story, a long story involvin’ a goat, two bottles of vodka, and a range rover, I won’t bore ya with that one.” Luz shrugged, smiled when Joe couldn’t hide his snort of amusement before continuing the story. 

“Anyways, Lieb says that they’ve probably forgotten by now and good ol’ Webster is like ‘No fucking way in hell!’ so I made a bet that I could just walk right through the door and eat a whole dinner, no problem, but this place is fucking full, right?” Luz gestured wildly at the tables around them. “So I saw this seat was empty and saw you sittin’ here lookin’ all sad and lonely and I thought I could kill two flies with one swatter, win ‘bout two hundred bucks and enjoy an evening with a fine fella such as yourself. So.” Luz finished, leaned back in his seat. “What’cha say? Help a guy out?” He waggled both brows ridiculously. 

Joe looked him over, smirked as he eyed their waiter coming back toward them from the kitchen. “Deal.” He leaned over the table, licked his lips just to watch Luz’s expressive eyes follow the movement. “But we split the pot, fifty-fifty.”

Luz tapped at his chin, pretending to consider the proposition before cracking at Joe’s exasperated sigh. “Only if you’re pickin’ up the check, Joe Toye, I haven’t won anything yet...and I’m actually kinda broke right now.” Luz reddened slightly. “Whoops.”

Joe snorted, gave a little smile of his own. “Of course, a date’s a date after all, right?” He reveled in the stunned wonder on Luz’s face, at the look of pure, honest delight in his eyes. 

“Better treat me right, Joe.” Luz smiled back as their waiter approached with a shifty eyed look at Joe that had Luz laughing into his menu.

*

“Joe, hey, I’m so sorry! I--”

“Cut the shit, James, I know you’re not.”

“Joe--”

“James, it’s over, you’re a dick, I’ve moved on.”

“You’ve moved on in three hours?! What the hell, Joe, as if that’s even possible!”

Joe observed George - it was George now, not Luz, Lord help him - getting their coats from across the room, cracking a joke to the clerk. “Guess it is...especially if there isn’t much to move on from in the first place.”

“Joe--”

“Later, asshole.” Joe hung up, shaking his head and walking over to George waiting by the door, his own coat on, his small frame hidden underneath the thick black wool protecting him from New York’s biting February cold. Joe’s coat was slung over his arm, his demeanor calm and collected, eyes pinned on Joe just like they had been all throughout his phone call with his now ex-boyfriend. 

Joe joined him in the small foyer, leaning down to press his lips softly against the shorter man’s cheek, pulling away with a smirk and taking his coat with him. Shrugging it on George helped him with the buttons, biting his lip with a smile when Joe took took his elbow and shouldered open the door, dragging them both out onto the frozen street. 

George let out a shuddering breath, visible in the cold, rubbing his hands together. Idiot, Joe thought, didn’t even bring a pair gloves. George was clearly freezing his ass off, lips the lightest hue of blue, but he still smiled up at Joe as he slowed them to a stop, pulling them into a boarded up doorway of a bankrupted bar, his hands gripping at either side of Joe’s hips through his coat.

“So.” Joe asked, raising an eyebrow. “We going to my place or what?”

George reared back, expression scandalous. “Someone’s sure feelin’ lucky, geeze, who says I’m goin’ home with you?” He sassed. “The night’s still young and honestly, who knows, I might get a better offer. Don’t wanna give up the search too early.” He shrugged.

Joe couldn’t stop his mouth from quirking up at the corner or his laughter that echoed across the empty winter street as he flipped them, George’s breath hitching with Joe’s hands pressing him back into the wall, their positions swapped. “Maybe I wanna get to know ya more, thank ya for savin’ me and shit.” Joe breathed quietly. “So why don’t ya come home with me, let me repay the favor or somethin’...get what I’m sayin’?”

George smiled brilliantly, the same smile that had gotten Joe’s attention at the beginning of the night, made a face as though he was thinking the question over. “Pretty sure I got it.” He murmured, shuffling up to his tip toes and closing the small distance between their lips, dragging Joe’s head down by the back of his neck and into a kiss that warmed them both.

*


End file.
